Bearing apparatuses exhibit a number of configurations including ball bearings, roller bearings, thrust bearings, radial bearings, journal bearings, and roller bearings. Depending on the application, the bearing apparatus may operate as a plain bearing, a roller bearing, a fluid bearing, or other any other mode of operation of a bearing.
Bearing apparatuses have found particular use as radial, thrust, and journal bearings. Each bearing apparatus may include a stator that does not rotate and a rotor that is attached to an output shaft and rotates with the output shaft. The stator and rotor may each include one or more bearing elements or inserts thereon. Each bearing element may be fabricated to provide an upper bearing surface that bears against other bearing surfaces during use.
In a conventional polycrystalline diamond compact (“PDC”) bearing apparatus, a bearing assembly may include a support ring that may be configured to accept a number of superhard bearing elements. The superhard bearing elements may be made from a polycrystalline diamond (“PCD”) layer formed on a cemented tungsten carbide substrate that forms a PDC.
Despite the availability of a number of different bearing assembly designs, manufacturers and users of bearing apparatuses continue to seek improved bearing apparatus designs and manufacturing techniques.